CFI releases about Presidential Elections:

On August 20th, the Clinton and Trump campaigns, as well as the National Party Committees, will file reports covering their activity through July 31st. This report analyzes the data through June 30th digging for clues on what to look for when the new reports come in.

More than half of the $442 million that was raised through April 30 by the single-candidate Super PACs supporting the presidential candidates came from a total of 101 donors who gave $1 million or more ($249 million, or 56% of the total, see Table 2).

On June 20, the Presidential candidate and national political parties will file what is in effect their last set of financial reports before the unofficial general election. The June 20 reports will take the candidates through May 31. In this release, the Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) presents detailed tables through April 30, 2016, along with comparable tables through April and May of 2008 and 2012. The purpose is to help users put the next reports into context. Links to a full set of historical parties and candidate data are included at the end of this release.

The Campaign Finance Institute today released updated graphs and tables showing receipts, cash on hand, and cumulative individual donor data through February 29st, 2016 for the campaign committees of the candidates running for President in 2016 (see Table 1 & 2). The tables are drawn from monthly disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on March 20. Tables 3 through 6 (listed below) provide parallel information for the elections of 2008 and 2012.

Two-thirds of the spending over the past week has been positive, even as the candidate’s personal rhetoric has grown more negative. But almost all the negative spending ($5.8 million or 92% of the week’s negative total) has attacked Donald Trump.

The Campaign Finance Institute today released updated graphs and tables showing receipts, cash on hand, and cumulative individual donor data through January 31st, 2016 for the campaign committees of the candidates running for President in 2016 (see Table 1 & 2). The tables are drawn from recently filed monthly disclosure reports filed with the FEC by the candidates. Tables 3 through 6 (listed below) provide parallel information for the elections of 2008 and 2012.

Candidate specific Super PACs are playing a crucial role for almost all major candidates in this year’s Presidential election. The Campaign Finance Institute today released an updated table showing the combined sources of funds (campaign committee & candidate super pacs) for each candidate through the end of 2015. In the table, each donor’s contributions are aggregated across the committees and the percent of money received from various donor levels is shown.

As the Presidential campaigns turned their focus towards New Hampshire independent spending by Super PACs, particularly candidate specific Super PACs, continued to play a large role. $176 million has been spent on independent expenditures so far, versus $45 million for the same period in 2012. $14.3 million has been reported since the Iowa caucuses.

Independent expenditure activity exploded in January with $58.7 million reported to the FEC so far, pushing the total for the cycle to $162.9 million. In 2012 $40 million had been spent through the same period. The last seven days has seen some new players join the independent expenditure field, led by Our Principles PAC which has spent $2.3 million on expenditures opposing Donald Trump.

The Campaign Finance Institute today released preliminary graphs and tables showing receipts, expenditures and cash on hand for the campaign committees of the candidates running for President in 2016 (see Table 1) as well as of the leading independent expenditure organizations supporting their campaigns (Table 3).

Fundraising by presidential campaign committees, both Democrat and Republican are significantly behind 2007 levels, which was the last time there was an open race for the Presidency. By the third quarter in 2007 all candidates for president has raised a combined $420 million dollars, $245 million for Democrats and $175 million for Republicans. This year the combined total is $273 million, 35% down from eight years ago (see Table 1).

We all know by now that the presidential campaigns raised early money from mega-donors at an unprecedented clip, with most of the money during the first half of 2015 going into legally independent Super PACs.

With Presidential campaign committee reports now in covering through June 30th we have a better picture of the presidential fundraising landscape. Although the increasingly important Super PACs will not file reports until July 31st, the campaign’s reports are an important indicator.

This July the first reports from 2016 presidential campaigns will be filed providing our first look at how candidates have been doing raising early money. As the information for 2015 becomes available, journalists and others my want to gain some perspective by looking at some information from the recent past.

Now available on CFI’s website are updated versions of tables covering historical statistics on campaign finance through 2014. These cover activity for full federal election cycles, in some cases dating back to 1974. Newly added this year are duplicate versions in nominal dollars and constant 2014 dollars.

The Campaign Finance Institute today is releasing its analysis of President Barack Obama’s and Gov. Mitt Romney’s fundraising through the two candidates’ post-election reports filed December 2012. The analysis strengthens the impression of an election in which the Obama campaign used fundraising as tool for money and mobilization, while for the Romney campaign it was just about money.

President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign began in August to show some of the benefits that come from his long-term strategy of cultivating and mobilizing a massive base of small donors. According to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on September 20, the Obama campaign received almost as much from unitemized donors who gave $200 or less during the month of August ($25.1 million) as Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign raised directly from all donors ($26.9 million. The rest of the Romney campaign’s receipts in August came in $39.2 million transferred from his joint fundraising committee and a $20 million loan.)

President Obama and Mitt Romney each raised more money in June than in previous months of 2012, according to detailed reports the campaigns filed with the Federal Election Commission on July 20. Both campaigns also increased the amount they raised from small donors. Romney’s success with small donors was new. Obama’s still greater success was a continuation of past patterns.